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Bucknell leader makes name tackling tough issues

By GENARO C. ARMAS Associated Press

Updated:
03/30/2013 10:28:49 AM EDT

LEWISBURG, Pa.—Dressed in a loud orange-and-blue-striped polo shirt, Bucknell President John Bravman carried his young son in his arms while anxiously watching the school's basketball team shoot around before the biggest home game of the year.

Bucknell's disclosure this year that former school officials had inflated students' average SAT scores may have drawn more attention for how Bravman handled the delicate issue. In the end, Bucknell's U.S. News & World Report ranking was unaffected by the false data, and an anonymous alumni donor pledged a $10 million gift to show support.

"I've been very clear since coming here," Bravman said in a recent interview at his university corner office. "We're going to talk about how great we are, and we're going to talk about our problems—and we're going to do it in public."

Bravman, a former vice provost at Stanford University, became Bucknell's 17th president in July 2010. This week marked 1,000 days in office, and Bravman has had a busy tenure since arriving at the selective liberal arts school in central Pennsylvania.

Bucknell took on the SAT inflation issue head-on, with Bravman addressing the Board of Trustees and writing parents, students, faculty and staff. He has met with constituent groups to answer questions, and his office offered interviews to media outlets in the immediate aftermath of the disclosure.

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Bravman said Bucknell wasn't the first school—and likely won't be the last—to encounter such a problem. But he has impressed people on campus with how he has handled the scrutiny.

"He's taking these issues straight on, and being honest about it," said Tony Massoud, a former Bucknell faculty chairman who teaches international relations at the university. "What he's really doing is effective leadership."

The direct approach has been a staple to how Bravman has tackled other hard topics.

Soon after he arrived at Bucknell, Bravman commissioned a yearlong study on campus climate issues, which led to forums and discussions on topics including students drinking habits. According to the school, Bucknell in early 2011 joined 32 other universities in a "new national collaborative effort to understand and address high-risk drinking" on college campuses.

Bucknell is also in the process of introducing athletic merit scholarships for football after the Patriot League in February 2012 decided to move forward with football merit scholarships starting in fall 2013.

In a long letter to the campus community, Bravman wasn't shy about weighing the pros and cons of such a move.

"Any decision that is not entirely the university's (decision) comes with some discomfort. But as a member of the Patriot League, we have faced changes like this before, and we will implement this new policy carefully here again," he wrote.

"We have met that challenge the right way before, and we will do so again as we move forward as part of a league in which we are justifiably a proud and successful participant," Bravman said. Bucknell belongs to the league along with such schools as Colgate and American University.

Loren Jablon, a sophomore and student government president at Bucknell, described Bravman as having a strong relationship with the student body. The president, she said, met with different fraternities and sororities, as well other students on campus, and was willing to talk about difficult issues openly.

She described Bravman as taking Bucknell in the direction the university needs. "Everyone seems really content and satisfied with his role on campus," Jablon said.

The SAT disclosure in January came about three months after the public launch of a $500 million fundraising campaign—the most ambitious in school history—and about a month before the university was to begin a five-stop tour across the country as part of the campaign.

The first two stops—in San Francisco and Pittsburgh—went well, Bravman said. He said he received about 300 emails after the SAT score disclosure, with 10 he described as angry but most as positive, or at least thanking the school for being open about the discrepancy.

"We have a very high six-year graduation rate. We have a very high job placement rate," said Bravman, playing cheerleader-in-chief again. "We don't want to overreach on those, but we're very happy to talk about the success of our students."

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